Milk and Slumdog Millionaire were the big winners at the Writers Guild Of America's 2009 awards at the weekend.

Dustin Lance Black took the original screenplay prize for Milk while Simon Beaufoy kept the Slumdog Millionaire bandwagon going with a win in the adapted category based on Vikas Swarup's novel Q And A. Waltz With Bashir written by Ari Folman won the documentary section.

In the special honours roster, Black received the Paul Selvin Award, Carl Reiner and Victoria Riskin took the Valentine Davies Award, and Suso D'Amico received the Writers Guild of America West's inaugural Jean Renoir Award for screenwriting achievement.

Simultaneous awards ceremonies took place on Saturday [February 7] for the Guild's West and East Coast chapters at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles and the Hudson Theatre at the Millennium Broadway Hotel in New York City.